The Vancouver Canucks may have buoyed their playoff hopes with a 6-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night, but they lost Filip Chytil to an apparent injury caused by a garbage hit from Jason Dickinson.
Chytil, 25, was limited to just 10 games with the New York Rangers due to his concussion history and complications, which makes the hit from Dickinson that much worse.
Chytil was skating towards the boards to make a routine play, intercepting the puck and playing it back towards safety before Dickinson ambushed him from behind, blind-siding Chytil, following through the numbers, and pasting him into the boards.
Concerningly, Chytil took a while to stand up on his own and stumbled back to the ice, grimacing on his first attempt to get up.
Former Canuck Jason Dickinson with a blindside hit from behind on Filip Chytil.
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) March 16, 2025
Chytil immediately went to the locker room.
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL#Canucks pic.twitter.com/g54DQArmyc
Chytil's first reaction upon taking the hit was to cover his head with his arms, and the Sportsnet broadcasters noted that the Czech forward's head snapped back from the force of the hit before crumpling to the floor.
No Canucks players immediately responded to Dickinson to get vengeance for the hit, though Derek Forbort, Conor Garland, and Filip Hronek took some liberties on Connor Bedard and Lukas Reichel towards the end of the game and started some rough stuff around the Canucks' net.
Bedard, Frank Nazar, Hronek, and Garland were each assessed 10-minute misconduct penalties. For Bedard, a Vancouver native, this was his second consecutive game with a 10-minute misconduct penalty, something you would not expect for a player his size or stature.
Dickinson was not penalized for the hit against Chytil, and no updates were immediately made on Chytil's status.
Canucks fans may recall that, a few days ago, Connor Zary received only a two-minute interference penalty for elbowing defenceman Elias Pettersson and forcing him to leave the game with an injury. Zary was later suspended two games for his transgressions.
It's certainly possible the NHL Department of Player Safety takes a look at this one while we await positive updates from the Canucks on Chytil.